Be my head
The Guilt-Free Soldier, from the Village Voice. Boy. Neurological hacking, basically.
"It's the morning-after pill for just about anything that produces regret, remorse, pain, or guilt."
Honestly, I'm somewhat skeptical about this sort of thing being worked out anytime soon. To state the obvious, the brain is complex, and I'd be a little surprised if our first efforts to peak at its workings directly were so successful. But, of course, that doesn't mean we can't goof around with it. Imagine the sorts of social changes that would result in the wake of reliable emotion-altering techniques.
The caveat, of course, is that they have to be accepted, and I'm not so sure that is or will be the case. Mood-altering chemicals are not a rarity today, but they tend to be rather blunt in their effects, and often dangerous as a result. They are not particularly trusted. Something like alcohol can enjoy a high social standing, but once it's being used as a medication that standing tends to evaporate.
Of course, much of this is socially imposed. Cocaine gets to be glamourous, crack does not. Thunderbird and Cabernet Sauvignon lubricate different circles. (And a word about wine enthusiasts: They're nuts. Well, they're very enthusiastic. Trade magazines in general are pretty intense experiences. Thanks to the Wine Spectator for assistance with spelling tricky French words, though reading through it makes me realize that I basically don't know anything about anything, and all my appreciations are superficial, and that I live life like one rides a water slide.) It's certainly possible that the techniques described in the article could become socially acceptable. Especially if they're as specific as we might imagine them to be. Should we be able to dial up emotional states at will, things will no doubt get very interesting, though whether this is because they actually are or because we choose to perceive them as such may become an unanswerable (and uninteresting) question.
If I was smarter I'd write a paper on all this.
The Guilt-Free Soldier, from the Village Voice. Boy. Neurological hacking, basically.
"It's the morning-after pill for just about anything that produces regret, remorse, pain, or guilt."
Honestly, I'm somewhat skeptical about this sort of thing being worked out anytime soon. To state the obvious, the brain is complex, and I'd be a little surprised if our first efforts to peak at its workings directly were so successful. But, of course, that doesn't mean we can't goof around with it. Imagine the sorts of social changes that would result in the wake of reliable emotion-altering techniques.
The caveat, of course, is that they have to be accepted, and I'm not so sure that is or will be the case. Mood-altering chemicals are not a rarity today, but they tend to be rather blunt in their effects, and often dangerous as a result. They are not particularly trusted. Something like alcohol can enjoy a high social standing, but once it's being used as a medication that standing tends to evaporate.
Of course, much of this is socially imposed. Cocaine gets to be glamourous, crack does not. Thunderbird and Cabernet Sauvignon lubricate different circles. (And a word about wine enthusiasts: They're nuts. Well, they're very enthusiastic. Trade magazines in general are pretty intense experiences. Thanks to the Wine Spectator for assistance with spelling tricky French words, though reading through it makes me realize that I basically don't know anything about anything, and all my appreciations are superficial, and that I live life like one rides a water slide.) It's certainly possible that the techniques described in the article could become socially acceptable. Especially if they're as specific as we might imagine them to be. Should we be able to dial up emotional states at will, things will no doubt get very interesting, though whether this is because they actually are or because we choose to perceive them as such may become an unanswerable (and uninteresting) question.
If I was smarter I'd write a paper on all this.
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